Now is the Perfect Time to Winterize Your Home

The dog days of summer are definitely upon us. Is anyone thinking frigid, frost, snow, or winter? Probably not. But as we move into fall with its mesmerizing colors, cooler temperatures, and seasonal treats, we should be mindful that Winter. Is. Coming. And now is the perfect time to winterize your home.

How and Why You Should Winterize Your Home Now

If preparing for winter were as easy as pulling your cozy sweaters and fall decorations out of storage, this blog post would be unnecessary. But it takes planning. And planning takes time. And then it’ll be too cold to do what should have been started back in September. You know. Like hanging Christmas lights outside while it’s warm enough to do so. So, as the orange, 5-gallon Home Depot bucket says, “Let’s Do This.” There’s no time like the present.

 

Winterize Your Home Inside

Schedule Maintenance of Your HVAC System

The end of October is the ideal time to schedule maintenance for your home’s cooling and heating system. So stop what you’re doing right now and pick up the phone. Yes, stop reading and call your HVAC company. Schedule an HVAC appointment with them now so that they can prepare your system for efficiency and warmth when you need it later. And hey! They’re busy people, too. If you drag your feet on this one, folks, you may not see them before the end of October like you need to.

But if you use a window unit, remove it from the window and put it in storage for the winter. If it isn’t removable, then cover it with a breathable, waterproof cover.

Winterize your home

Change Your Filters

Replacing your air filters is easy to do. If your air

filters are dirty and clogged, your house might be costing you more money than it should be. Your HVAC system has a much harder time keeping your home at a comfortable temperature with a dirty air filter. And this will increase your heating bills and shorten the life of your system. How often you should change your filters varies depending on who you ask. But why not change your air filters monthly? Be good to your hard-working HVAC investment.

Fill Your Fuel Tank

If you happen to heat your home with propane or you use an oil furnace, make sure your propane tank or oil furnace is full of fuel. You won’t want to be without heat when it’s dangerously cold outside.

Clean the Ductwork

Your ductwork can be full of debris like dust, bugs, home construction leftovers, mold, toys, food, etc. You’d be amazed. Why not get all that stuff cleaned out before the furnace kicks on and blows even a little of that nastiness into your home?

Check for Drafts

The U.S. Department of Energy says windows are responsible for the loss of 25 to 30 percent of the energy we pay for to heat our homes. That’s a lot of money out the window! But weatherstripping is a simple and cost-effective way to keep your heating costs down and money in your pocket.

Tip:  When you have a draft issue, you need to find where it’s coming from. Close a door or window on a strip of paper. If the paper slides out easily, ta-da! You found it! Make a trip to your nearest home store and purchase weatherstripping.

Apply Insulation Where Needed

This goes for both the inside and outside of your home.

Exposed water or drain pipes in an uninsulated crawlspace, attic or outside wall are especially vulnerable to freezing. Insulate them with foam insulation at least. Wrap them with electrical heating tape first. Then follow with insulation. Burst pipes can cause extensive damage making this home repair one of the most expensive.

Buy an insulating blanket at the hardware store to insulate your hot water tank.

Outlets and switch plates on the outside of your home can be insulated with an inexpensive foam sealing gasket.

Stuffing a piece of fiberglass insulation into the fireplace behind the glass doors will block cold air that comes down the chimney and into your room. Just be sure to remove the insulation when you use the fireplace.

Change Your Batteries

Whenever you choose to change your batteries, you should do it once a year. You can choose to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide devices every fall, or New Year’s Day, or in the spring when you spring forward for the time change. The key here is to check them consistently once a year every year to make sure your devices are working just in case you need them.

Check Your Chimney, Fireplace, or Wood Burning Stove

Winterize your home

If your chimney hasn’t been cleaned in a very long time or perhaps never, call a professional chimney sweep. But here’s what you can do to winterize your home inside and out in regards to your fireplace or wood burning stove:

  • Clear the chimney of nests.
  • Look for leaks in the flashing around your chimney. Check for possible leaks around all the projections on your roof. If anything looks sketchy, hire someone to make repairs as soon as possible.
  • Check the flue to make sure it opens and closes completely. Can you lock it in either position?
  • Make sure the chimney draws up fire and smoke properly. Roll up several sheets of newspaper. With the fireplace damper in the open position, light the newspaper in the fireplace. Does the smoke rise up the chimney? If it doesn’t, call in a professional to clean the chimney. Something such as creosote, ash, or a nest is obstructing it. And that is not a good thing!
  • Inspect the firebrick in the fireplace for open mortar joints. If you find open mortar joints, have them repaired immediately! Open mortar joints can allow a fire to spread into the stud wall behind the firebrick.

Winterize Your Home Outside

Check Your Roof

Check for missing or damaged shingles. If you find any, hire someone to replace them for you.

Clean or Replace Your Gutters

And while you’re up there on the roof, check your gutters. They drain thousands of gallons of water from your roof every year, and you never give them a thought. Until they’re clogged. And a clogged drain can cost you. Wet leaves left in the gutters over the winter add a hefty amount of weight and volume when they get wet and freeze. This increases the risk of damage to gutters and downspouts significantly. So give your gutters a little TLC before you’re ankle deep in water inside your home. Clean them and check them every year. And if necessary, replace them before the first winter freeze arrives in November.

Drain Your Outdoor Faucets

This is extremely important to do before the first freeze. Open up the outside faucets and drain the water. And turn off the water supply to exterior faucets inside your home. Then disconnect all garden hoses from outside faucets, also known as hose bibbs or sill-cocks. Consider covering hose bibbs with an insulated cover.

Freezing temperatures outside freeze water and burst pipes inside. This spells damage and costly repairs.

If you store your garden hoses outside, drain them, too.

Prepare Your Fountain for Winter

Do you have a fountain in your yard? Drain it and unplug the pump for it.

Winterize your home

Purge Your Sprinkler System

Freezing temps are in your forecast, so hire someone to drain and blow out your sprinkler system. Getting this done by the end of October is ideal.

Protect Your Condensing Unit

Wet leaves and debris can rust and freeze your unit’s internal components. If you’ll cover it with a breathable, waterproof cover through the winter, you’ll protect it and extend its life and efficiency.

Bring Your Outdoor Furniture Inside

Yes, outdoor furniture is meant to be used outside. But if you want it to last longer than one or two summers, don’t put it through snowstorms. Take care of your investment. If you have the room, bring it inside. Or leave it outside with waterproof covers thrown over each piece.

Seal the Deck

Seal the deck with a fresh coat of sealer before winter.

Prepare Your Landscape

You may not have much of a lawn, but since you want to keep it looking great in the spring and summer, you need to fertilize it in the fall before winter. Grassroots are active even when it isn’t growing and needing to be mowed. Fertilizer prevents winter damage. So take care of your lawn now for a greener lawn tomorrow.

Drain the Gas from Your Lawn Mower

If you wait to “rake” leaves with your lawn mower after your deciduous trees lose their leaves, you’ll knock out two to-dos at the same time. “Rake” those leaves until your lawnmower runs out of gas completely. See?

Fix All the Cracks in Your Driveway

If you happen to have a driveway, take the time to fix any cracks that may be developing. Because if water gets into the cracks in your driveway and then freezes, it will expand making the tiny cracks even bigger. Neglect this step and many little cracks will eventually get bigger. And bigger cracks will make your concrete crumble. Again, visit your local home store and purchase some concrete crack sealer (while you’re there getting weatherstripping). Fill up every crack before the weather turns cold and rest easy.

Test Your Winter Equipment

Yes, test your snow thrower now. Fill it with gas and pull that starter cord. What good does a snow thrower do you when it won’t start to throw snow when you need it to? Been there. Done that. But if you don’t have a snow thrower, make sure you know where your snow shovel is and that it doesn’t need to be replaced. And while you’re at it, purchase an ice scraper and snow brush for each vehicle.

So, if you haven’t already started to winterize your home, inside and out, put down that pumpkin spice latte and get busy. Divide this list of to-dos by eight weeks. Then move through this checklist to winterize your home completely by the end of October before the cold winter months arrive.

Are you ready to move? Contact Charles D’Alessandro, your Brooklyn Real Estate Agent with Fillmore Real Estate. Call (718) 253-9600 ext.206 or email [email protected] today.


Brooklyn Real Estate Agent

 Charles D’Alessandro

Your Brooklyn Real Estate Agent

718-253-9600 ext. 206

[email protected]

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